Ghost Stories of America

Rating:
Summary: Needs Work!
Review: Dan Asfar and Edrick Thay have put together an interesting collection of ghost stories from all across America. I have read about many of these ghosts before and some are quite famous, like the Bell Witch and Resurrection Mary, while others are little known accounts from the far corners of each and every state. The authors have a pleasing writing style and the stories are interesting and flow nicely.

Asfar and Thay have done a good bit of research in preparation for writing this book and they seem to know their facts. Unfortunately, all of their research seems to have been conducted be looking at secondary sources. Several books that have been written by some of America's finest writers of ghost books are mentioned in this text and that seems to be where the authors got their stories. Most if not all of the authors Asfar and Thay mention write stories only after they have visited the haunted site and most of the time they have conducted interviews with eyewitnesses. There is none of that in this book and eyewitness accounts are indispensable when it comes to writing a first rate ghost book.

This would be a good book to have if one wanted to read some ghost stories to a bunch of kids while sitting around a campfire for there is little in the way of detail that would cause the story to bog down with the short attention span crowd. On the other hand, some of the stories contain more history than ghosts so even in this scenario one would have to pre-read and choose their stories carefully. If you really want ghost stories that have the feel of the real thing, spend you money on books by Nancy Roberts, Beth Scott, Michael Norman and the other authors mentioned in this book. This book is really more of a condensed version than the real thing.

Rating:
Summary: Great New Read
Review: I haven't read too many ghost story books in my day, but if they're all like this one, you can guarantee that I'll be reading many more. These stories were richly detailed and packed with information that I found both enlightening and entertaining. A thoroughly enjoyable read with stories encompassing the whole of our great nation. Being a true blue Jayhawk, I'm impartial to the Atchison story and Sallie the Man-Hater, but really, all the accounts were wonderful. I recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a little light reading.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Read, Spooky Too
Review: I read this book while on a week long road trip. Had a great time with it. Works well as a local history book while telling some of this country's most known folk-tales. Spooky stuff! I especially liked "The Stranger" story in West Virginia.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book
Review: I waited for this book a long time. Its great, covers all 50 states with plenty of pictures and a really nice cover. I am giving a copy to my sister who lives in Vicksburg Miss. where one of the stories takes place. Overall very good book